From "Dog Tales: Hundreds of Heartwarming, Face-Licking, Tail-Wagging Tales About Dogs."

WHEN MY SON WAS IN FIFTH GRADE, he came home from school and announced that he wanted to get a dog. He and his father went to the pound and came back with the scrawniest, ugliest dog I had ever seen, a two-year-old, 11-pound, terrier mix. Because he was malnourished, his hair was coming out in patches. Cory named him Randall
Cunningham after the football player and, although Randy could be a little nasty by growling and showing his teeth, we grew to love him. With our love and care he grew to be 22 pounds and loved to sing when Cory made a whistling sound by blowing on a blade of grass.
—CHAR LAVALETTE
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

MY HOUSE WAS BURGLARIZED when Pinch was home alone. When I walked in, he had these orange markings all over his body and was panicking. I thought he had gotten into something. Then I went into the office and realized that we had been robbed and he had been pepper-sprayed. Before even calling to report the burglary to the cops I brought Pinch to the vet. When the handlers gave Pinch a bath, as soon as the water hit the pepper spray the fumes were all over everything. Pinch’s eyes were affected a little bit; we had to put drops in his eyes for about a week. He was very skittish after this, but with lots of work he recovered.
—PINK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

MY FRIEND AND I WOULD LET RACHEL ride in the back of a pickup truck because it has a cap on it, which means she’s safe back there—or so we thought. She was riding in the back of the truck one day as we were driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on our way home from a weekend at the beach. I turned around to give her a bone and she wasn’t there. We drove to the tollbooth and told the collector that our dog had somehow managed to open the lock on the back and get out. We had to drive back over the bridge to the police barracks, and I spent the entire 20-mile drive hanging out the window in tears as I yelled Rachel’s name. We reported her missing to the police, and by the time we made it back over the bridge, the toll collector told us the police had called and they had our dog. So we made the trip back over the bridge again and found Rachel safe and sound in a police car. She was found walking back over the bridge after falling out of the truck. Another driver saw her and called the police. She must have had an angel on her shoulder that day.
—MAUREEN HILL-HAUCH
FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA

TEASE WAS ATTACKED by some other dogs in an obedience ring and sustained injuries we never thought he would overcome. He was doing the part of the competition where all of the dogs are lined up next to each other and have to lie down for a specified amount of time. During this exercise, the dog next to Tease decided to get up and come over. This prompted some of the other dogs to join, and eventually a fight broke out. There were seven dogs involved; my little guy was on the bottom. Tease injured his sciatica and was not able to walk correctly. We were determined to get better, and with lots of love and lots of therapy, seven months later we were back. Right now, we are actually running in an agility competition!
—TRACY KERNS
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

BEAR WAS SHOT by a policeman outside our neighborhood convenience store. The bullet sped through Bear’s left ear and into his rear paw. The shooting sparked an internal police investigation, a fine, and $5,000 in veterinary bills. Since then, Bear has suffered glaucoma, cancer, bladder stones, and vestibular disease. But it doesn’t matter; having my best buddy by my side makes it all worthwhile.
—ANNA KILINSKI
ATLANTA, GEORGIA

DUKE HAS TERRIBLE ALLERGIES. To what, we have no idea, but I strongly suspect the cat. Duke gets terrible hot spots and itchy sores on his chest and stomach. To keep the sores under control and help them heal, we give him a bath every few weeks and carefully remove the dead tissue so that Duke’s skin can heal. It must hurt like crazy, but Duke never lets out a peep. It’s as if he knows that we’re only trying to help him.
—MICHAEL REICH
HELLERTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

GRIFFEY HAS BATTLED TWO MEDICAL PROBLEMS, but he’s handled it very well. When a pinched nerve in his neck made it too painful for him to move, Griffey allowed us to carry him and bring him to the vet for pain shots. And when a slipped disc forced his tail to go between his legs, Griffey dealt with it in his own way. Although his tail made it difficult for him to have a bowel movement, he would run across the yard until the poop finally came out. He needed prednisone and pain medication, but he never growled or stopped being his lovable self.
—CHAR LAVALETTE
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

WE USED TO TAKE SMITHERS walking up at the reservation. Greyhounds are not supposed to be off leash because they’ll run away. But Smithers was too scared with a leash on (having been mistreated as a racing dog, he was scared of almost everything), so I’d let him walk right next to me, where he always stayed. Well, one hot afternoon, he saw a deer and took off. Four of us searched for an hour. Suddenly, we saw him. He stood looking at us for a second, and then collapsed. We ran back and got him into the car. Greyhounds overheat, and he was almost dead. The vet said his kidneys had failed, and he wasn’t going to make it. But miraculously, he lived.
—MEG
MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY
SMITHERS, GREYHOUND, 3